1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to comminuted meat products and in particular to the use of hydrolyzed whey or a hydrolyzed whey fraction in such products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As generally understood in the art, comminuted meat products are those food products which include chopped, ground, pulverized or finely divided animal or poultry meat, meat by-products, or combinations thereof as a major component of the finished product. The United States Department of Agriculture has defined various types of comminuted meats in 9 C.F.R. .sctn.319, et seq. For example, the required compositions of such premium products as frankfurters, weiners, bologna, garlic bologna, braunschweiger, knockwurst and similar cooked sausages are defined in 9 C.F.R. .sctn.319.180. Similarly, the composition of beef patties is defined in 9 C.F.R. .sctn.319.15. The composition of non-specific loaves, such as olive loaf, is defined in 9 C.F.R. .sctn.319.280.
Comminuted meat products typically include a meat component, a flavoring component, an extender component, and in many cases, a coloring and/or a preservative component. This invention relates to the extender component, and in particular, to a new, inexpensive material for use as the extender component.
In the past, expensive extenders, such as nonfat dry milk and hydrolyzed vegetable protein, have been used in comminuted meat products. Attempts to use less expensive extenders have been on-going. One series of attempts has been directed to using whey, the by-product of cheese manufacturing, as an extender.
Whey typically contains, per liter, approximately 6 to 9 grams of protein, 45 to 50 grams of lactose, 6 to 8 grams of mineral salts, and 1 to 2 grams of fat. On a world-wide basis, the production of whey each year is estimated to be over 50 billion pounds. Whey thus represents a potentially important natural source of food for human consumption, provided it can be modified from its original state so as to make it palatable and functional in combination with other food ingredients.
Unfortunately, whey, as it is produced during the cheese manufacturing process, is of limited value as an extender, or for that matter, for anything else. Indeed, in the past, whey was regarded as a waste product and was discharged into sewers or streams and rivers. Today, however, because of increasing concerns over environmental pollution, much of the whey which is produced is subjected to some processing so that at a minimum it can be used as animal feed. Using whey as an animal feed, however, is a low value application and does not effectively take advantage of the tree food value of whey.
Prior attempts to use whey as an extender for comminuted meats have suffered various disadvantages. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,056 describes partially delactosing the whey and then fractionating the delactosed product by passing it through a bed containing a molecular sieve resin. The second fraction from the resin bed is used as the extender. This procedure is both complicated and results in significant loss of food value as a result of the delactosing step.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,552 describes a multi-step process which includes adjusting the pH of a whey solution containing at least 20% acid whey or adjusting the pH and adding a divalent metal ion, such as calcium, to a sweet whey solution to produce a precipitate which constitutes the extender.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,363 describes combining whey derived materials, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,056, supra, with up to 50% casein or its salts to produce a comminuted meat extender. U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,391, although not directly concerned with meat extenders, describes a meat-related use for whey in which a whey-derived material is mixed with 50-80% hydrolyzed vegetable protein and 10-25% yeast autolysate to produce a meaty flavoring agent for addition to soups, gravies, snack foods, seasoning mixes and the like.
European Patent Application No. 0029503 describes culturing whey protein with a yogurt-type fermentation culture, blending the resulting product with such materials as whey protein concentrate, nonfat dried milk, sodium caseinate or corn syrup solids and spray-drying the blend to produce the desired extender. The extender can be used in tangy comminuted meat products, such as fermented sausages.